title: Child and maternal correlates of impulse control in 24-month-old children.
abstract: In two studies, we assessed the ability of 24-month-old children (N = 82) to delay a response to an attractive stimulus on a series of tasks administered by either the child's mother or a female adult stranger. In both studies, delay performance was consistent across tasks, but findings were inconsistent as to the effect on delay performance of a child's gender or the examiner's relationship to the child. Mothers' ratings of their children's personality predicted delay performance; superior performance was associated with low impulsivity, high attention span/persistence, and low sociability. Superior delay performance was also associated with low maternal directiveness as assessed on compliance tasks, and with mothers' encouragement of independence as assessed on a child-rearing attitude questionnaire.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University.
authors.forename: I W
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Ragusa
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D012931:Social Environment; D012951:Socialization